Tuesday, 5 August 2014

2014 Ngaio Marsh and Scottish Crime novel of the year shortlists

Four
outstanding novels have been announced as the finalists for the 2014
Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which will be presented on August 30
following The Great New Zealand Crime Debate event at the WORD
Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival. The Ngaio Marsh Award is
made annually for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New
Zealand citizen or resident.

“This has absolutely been the toughest
year for the judges in the five-year history of the Award,” says Judging
Convenor Craig Sisterson. “We had
eight excellent, incredibly different novels that made up our deepest and most
diverse long list yet. Those books illustrate that local writers are
exploring questions of crime and mystery in a variety of exciting ways, and
providing readers with a great mix of entertainment, fine storytelling, and
beautiful prose. It has made our job
very hard, but it’s a nice problem to have.”

After much deliberation, and some fairly divergent opinions, the international
judging panel has settled on the following four finalists (in alphabetical
order):

Joe Victim by Paul Cleave (Penguin)

Frederick’s Coat by Alan Duff (Random
House)

My Brother’s Keeper by Donna Malane
(HarperCollins)

Where the Dead Men Go by Liam McIlvanney
(Faber)

The
winner will receive a set of Ngaio Marsh Award novels courtesy of HarperCollins
and a cash prize of $1,000 provided by the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust.

Hat
Tip to Mystery Fanfare for the information.

Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival and
the Deanston Distillery announced the shortlist for the third annual Deanston
Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The award, which recognizes excellence in
Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000 and nation-wide promotion in
Waterstone’s, will be announced at a gala event on September 20 as part of the
Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival.